1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system having a communication facility and executing processing of various facilities by software. More particularly, this invention is concerned with an information processing system making it possible to freely improve the facilities.
In recent years, an information processing system for executing, by software processing, various facilities, such as a facsimile system and a word-processor, has widely prevailed in the market. According to the present invention, such an information processing system can be reconstructed as a system having new facilities different from the previously installed facilities by effectively utilizing a communication facility thereof and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, an information processing system (for example, a facsimile system and a word-processor) for executing specified processing by software has been designed so that all software facilities owned by the system are user-visible.
On the side of manufacturers, a certain information processing system is made available in a plurality of models ranging from a low-grade model to a high-grade model, and manufactured as products of the models having software, for realizing associated facilities, implanted. The products are then put on the market. For upgrading a facility of an information processing system, for example, for releasing a facsimile system with a broadcasting facility added newly, an information processing system with software for realizing the new facility implanted newly is manufactured and put on the market.
However, on the side of the manufacture, it is a critical problem in terms of manufacturing cost and management cost that despite the fact that the system is the same, a different product must be manufactured for each model in order to install a different facility, or a new product must be manufactured in order to upgrade a facility, though this has been indispensable in the past.
In recent years, information processing systems, including personal computers, to be connected to various networks over communication lines have increased rapidly due to the prevalence of data communication using personal computers. In particular, now that the Internet has become popular, manufacturers can provide individual persons with commercial information through mass media including known television and radio.
Moreover, since large-capacity storage media, including CD-ROMs, that are now included as standard components in personal computers have been widely adopted, it is easy to embed commercial information in the form of voice, characters (text), or motion pictures.
Consequently, the commercial expense and the like that a manufacturer must pay the mass media in return for providing individual commercial information via a host system, a network, or a storage media can be allotted for meeting part or the whole of the expenses incurred for developing an information processing system that is a destination of the commercial information or for upgrading a facility of the information processing system.